HMS Victorious (R38)

HMS Victorious in 1941
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Victorious
Ordered	13 Jan 1937
Builder	Vickers-Armstrong
Cost	£4.05million
Laid down	4 May 1937
Launched	14 September 1939
Commissioned	14 May 1941
Decommissioned	13 March 1968
Refit	1950 - 1957
Fate	Scrapped 1969
Badge
General characteristics
Displacement	As built: 29,500 tons Post-refit: 35,500 tons full load
Length	As built: 673 ft (205 m) Post-refit 753 ft (230 m) waterline, 781 ft 238 m) overall
Beam	As built: 95 ft (29 m) Post-refit 103 ft (31.4 m)
Draught	As built: 28 ft (8.5 m) Post-refit 31 ft (9 m)
Propulsion	3 Parsons geared turbines 6 Admiralty 3-drum boilers 111,000 shp, 3 shafts
Speed	30.5 knots (56 km/h)
Range	11,000 nautical miles (20,000 km) at 14 knots (26 km/h)
Complement	2,200 (including air group)
Armament	16 × 4.5 inch (8 × 2) 48 × 2 pdr (6 × 8) 21 × 40 mm AA (2 × 4, 2 × 2, 9 × 1) 45 × 20 mm AA (45 × 1)
Armour	flight deck: 3" hangar deck: 2" side belt 4" hangar sides: 4"
Aircraft carried	During World War II: included: Albacore, Avenger, Barracuda, Corsair, Fulmar, Seafire, Sea Hurricane, Swordfish, Wildcat 1941: 36 Fulmar/Albacore 1945: 54 Corsair/Avenger Post-refit aircraft included: Gannet, Scimitar, Sea Fury, Sea Hawk, Sea Vixen, Buccaneer
Notes	Pennant numbers:38, R38, 38

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Victorious.

HMS Victorious (R38) was the second Illustrious class aircraft carrier ordered under the 1936 Naval Programme. She was laid down at the Vickers-Armstrong shipyard at Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in 1937 and launched two years later in 1939. Her commissioning was delayed, however, until 1941 due to the greater need for escort vessels for service in the Battle of the Atlantic.

Her service in 1941 and 1942 included famous actions against the battleship Bismarck, several Arctic convoys and the Pedestal convoy to Malta. She was loaned to the United States Navy for a brief period in 1943 and served in the south west Pacific as "USS Robin". Victorious contributed to several attacks on the Tirpitz. The elimination of the German naval threat allowed her redeployment first to the Eastern Fleet at Colombo and then to the Pacific for the final actions of the war against Japan.

After the war, her service was broken by periods in reserve and an extensive rebuild in the 1950s. The reduction in Britain's naval commitment in the late 1960s prompted her final withdrawal from service and she was scrapped in 1969.

Service

Bismarck Episode

In 1941, just 2 weeks after commissioning, her first active mission began when she took part in the hunt for the German battleship Bismarck in the North Atlantic. Originally intended to be part of the escort for convoy WS-8B to the Middle East, Victorious was hardly ready to be involved in a hunt for the Bismarck with just one-quarter of her aircraft embarked. Sailing with the battleship HMS King George V, the battlecruiser Repulse, and 4 light cruisers, Victorious was hastily deployed to assist in the pursuit of the German ship.

On 24 May 1941, Victorious launched nine of her biplane Fairey Swordfish torpedo bomber aircraft and two Fulmar fighters. The Swordfish, under the command of Eugene Esmonde who would make his name with the "Stringbag", as the Swordfish was known, flew through foul weather and attacked in the face of tremendous fire from Bismarck's anti-aircraft guns. The result was only a single, ineffectual hit to the armoured belt. No aircraft were shot down during the attack, but the Fulmars ran out of fuel on the return journey and had to ditch in the ocean; the ship's homing beacon had failed. Victorious took no further part in the chase and sinking; aircraft from another carrier, the Ark Royal, contributed to the sinking of the Bismarck three days later. Esmonde received a DSO for his part in the action.

Convoy and other Arctic duties

In early June 1941, while part of the escort for troop convoy WS-8X, a Swordfish from Victorious' 825 Naval Air Squadron located the German supply ship Gonzenheim north of the Azores. The Gonzenheim had been intended to support the Bismarck but she subsequently scuttled when approached by British warships. On 5 June, she was detached to Gibraltar, and, with HMS Ark Royal and a naval escort, she "flew-off" Hawker Hurricane aircraft to the besieged British Mediterranean base of Malta (Operation Tracer). Victorious returned to the naval base at Scapa Flow with captured crewmen from the Gonzenheim.

In late July, 1941, in the Arctic, she escorted HMS Adventure to Murmansk with a load of mines and on the 31st took part in the raid on Kirkenes and Petsamo when thirteen of her aircraft were lost.

At the end of August, Victorious covered the first of the allied convoys to Archangel (Operation Dervish) with a force of cruisers and destroyers and then the return passage of HMS Argus which had delivered Hurricane fighters to Murmansk (Operation Strength). During early September, she launched more air attacks, this time against Tromsø (twice), Vestfjord and shipping off Bodø.

Decrypted German Enigma signals indicated a break-out into the Atlantic in October, 1941 by the German warships Scheer and Tirpitz and the Victorious was deployed with the Home Fleet for their interception. This continued until mid November (when Adolf Hitler cancelled the operation) and included a patrol in the Denmark Strait with battleships HMS King George V, USS Idaho and USS Mississippi and cruisers USS Wichita and Tuscaloosa. Note that this joint anglo-American operation pre-dated the formal state of war between the United States and Germany. Victorious continued with the Home Fleet until March, 1942.

Illustrious returned to the Arctic Convoys in March and April 1942 and, with powerful forces, provided cover for convoys PQ12, QP8, PQ13, QP9, PQ14 and QP10. During these operations, she also made an unsuccessful air strike on the Tirpitz, losing two aircraft. During the end of April, May and June, anglo-American forces (including USS Washington, Tuscaloosa and Wichita) covered convoys PQ16, QP12, PQ17 and QP13, after which Victorious returned to Scapa Flow.

The Arctic convoys were suspended temporarily after the horrendous losses that Convoy PQ17 suffered. Twenty-three ships out of thirty-six were sunk after the convoy had been scattered in the belief that an attack was imminent by the German warships Admiral Hipper, Lützow, Admiral Scheer, and Tirpitz.

Pedestal

Main article: Operation Pedestal

The suspension of the Arctic convoys released Victorious to take part in a "last chance" attempt to resupply Malta - Operation Pedestal. Malta bound convoy WS21S departed from Britain on 3 August 1942 escorted by Victorious with HMS Nelson and cruisers Nigeria, Kenya and Manchester. Exercises (Operation Berserk) were performed with aircraft carriers HMS Indomitable, Furious, Eagle and Argus to improve operational techniques.

Pedestal began on 10 August 1942 and involved a great array of ships in several coordinated groups; two battleships , four aircraft carriers, seven cruisers and thirty-two destroyers. Some of the carriers were transporting aircraft for Malta's defence and fourteen merchant ships carried supplies. On 12 August 1942 Victorious was slightly damaged by an attack from Italian bombers. The Eagle was less fortunate; torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat on her return journey to Gibraltar. Ultimately Pedestal was a success. Supplies, including oil, and reinforcing Spitfires allowed Malta to hold out albeit at the cost of the loss of nine merchant ships, one aircraft carrier, two cruisers, and a destroyer.

In September, 1942, Victorious went for a refit that included the installation of an aircraft direction room. After trials, she was ready to participate in the North African landings.

Operation Torch

Main article: Operation Torch

In November 1942, Victorious took part in the North African landings. Operation Torch which involved 196 ships of the Royal Navy and 105 of the United States Navy. About 107,000 Allied soldiers were landed. Ultimately successful, Operation Torch was the precursor to the later invasions of Sicily, Italy and France. Victorious provided air cover during the landings and made air attacks at Algiers and Fort Duree. Four of her Martlet (Wildcat) fighters landed at Blida airfield to accept surrender.

She left for Scapa Flow on 18 November and, while en route, Fairey Albacores of 817 Naval Air Squadron depth chargeed U-517 off Cape Finisterre. The submarine's structure was badly damaged and she was scuttled; surviving crew were rescued by HMS Opportune.

USS Robin

In late December, 1942, Victorious was loaned to the United States Navy (USN) to fill a shortage of operational aircraft carriers available to the USN. During this time, she was code named (not renamed) as USS Robin, for signals purposes, derived from the character "Robin Hood". After a refit in the United States at the Norfolk Navy Yard in January 1943, Victorious passed through the Panama Canal to operate with the United States forces in the Pacific.

HMS Victorious and USS Saratoga at Noumea, 1943.

Victorious arrived at Pearl Harbor in March 1943 and was taken in hand for conversions for the operation of USN Wildcat and Avenger aircraft and the addition of more close range weaponry. She was ready for service by May and sailed with USS Saratoga for the south-west Pacific. Her role with Task Group 36.3 was to support US landing operations and provide defence against attacks by Japanese warships. The two aircraft carriers had Anglo-American aircrews, with air-cover provided by Victorious and strike aircraft by Saratoga. In August, 1943, Victorious and Saratoga provided air support for Allied forces during the invasion of New Georgia (Operation Cartwheel). In September 1943, Victorious returned to the naval base at Scapa Flow, arriving in mid-October.

The German battleship Tirpitz

Attack on Tirpitz

From December 1943 until March 1944, Illustrious was under refit at Liverpool, when new radar was fitted.

At the end of March, HMS Victorious, Anson and Duke of York formed Force 1, covering the passage of convoy JW58. On 2 April 1944, Force 1 joined with Force 2, the aircraft carriers HMS Emperor, Fencer, Furious, Pursuer, and Searcher and numerous cruisers and destroyers, in launching an attack (Operation Tungsten) on the Tirpitz in Altafjord, Norway. This involving Barracudas in two waves, hitting the battleship fourteen times and strafing the ship's defences. Although near-misses caused flooding and there was serious damage to the superstructure, the ship's armour was not penetrated. Nonetheless, the attack put Tirpitz out of action for some months. During the operation, Victorious became the first Royal Navy aircraft carrier to use operationally the F4U Corsair fighter. The Task Force returned to Scapa Flow three days later.

Victorious was to participate in three further attacks, in April and May, on Tirpitz (Operations Planet, Brawn and Tiger Claw) but these were cancelled due to bad weather and anti-shipping strikes were substituted. On 30 May, an acoustic torpedo attack by U-957 failed and Victorious made more shipping attacks off Norway (Operation Lombard).

Eastern Fleet

In June 1944, Victorious, with HMS Indomitable, left British waters to join the Eastern Fleet at Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), where she arrived on the 5th July. The Eastern Fleet, after a quiet period of trade protection and relative vulnerability, was now being reinforced with ships released from the Atlantic and Mediterranean, in preparation for offensive action against the Japanese.

After a short preparatory period, Victorious took part in a sequence of air attacks against Japanese installations. The first was Operation Crimson on 25 July, a joint attack with HMS Illustrious on airfields near Sabang, Sumatra. In late August, she provided air cover for Eastern Fleet ships that were providing air-sea rescue facilities for US Army aircraft during air attacks on Sumatra (Operations Boomerang). On 29 August, in company with HMS Illustrious and Indomitable and escorted by HMS Howe, Victorious made air strikes on Padang, Indaroeng and Emmahaven (Operation Banquet). After a short pause, on 18 September, Victorious and Indomitable attacked railway yards at Sigli, Sumatra followed by photo-reconnaissance of the Nicobar Islands (Operation Light). During Light, there was a "friendly fire" attack on HM Submarine Spirit, fortunately without causing any casualties.

At the end of September, Victorious had a short interval at Bombay for repairs to its steering gear; problems had arisen during Operation Light. She rejoined the Eastern Fleet on 6 October. The next operation, Millet, was her last with the Eastern Fleet. On 17 October, she launched attacks on the Nicobar Islands and Nancowry harbour, with HMS Indomitable, escorted by HMS Renown. Enemy air attacks destroyed four aircraft and damaged five more. During early November, Victorious returned to Bombay for more work on her stearing; more problems had arisen during Millet.

British Pacific Fleet

Sumatra

The British Pacific Fleet (BPF) was formed at Trincomalee on November 22, 1944 from elements of the Eastern Fleet and Victorious was transferred to the new fleet. From November 1944 until January, 1945 the BPF stayed in the Indian Ocean, training and gaining experience that they would need when working with the United States Navy. Victorious, however, remained under repair at Bombay until January, 1945 and missed raids on oil refineries at Pangkalan Brandan (Operation Robson).

In early January, 1945, she was available for Operation Lentil, a repeat raid on the oil refineries at Pangkalan Brandan with HMS Indomitable and Implacable. Further raids on Japanese oil and port installations in Sumatra were made on 16 January. By late January, the BPF had finally quit Ceylon and was en route to its new home base at Sydney. The voyage was interrupted for another series of raids, on 24 January, this time on Pladjoe and Manna, south west Sumatra (Operation Meridian 1). There was little opposition from Japanese aircraft. This was followed on 29 January by unsuccessful attacks on oil installations at Soengi-Gerong (Operation Meridian 2). This time, the Japanese attempted air attacks on the British fleet but these were beaten off. Total aircraft losses by all carriers were 16 aircraft in action and another 25 lost by ditching or on landing. Nine Fleet Air Arm pilots captured by the Japanese were executed in April 1945.

Okinawa

File:HMS Victorious on fire.jpg

HMS Victorious on fire after being struck by 3 kamikazes off Okinawa, May 9, 1945

In early February, Victorious joined Task Force 113 (TF113) at Sydney to prepare for service with the US 5th Fleet. At the end of the month, TF113 left Sydney for their forward base at Manus Island, north of New Guinea, and then continued, joining the 5th US Fleet at Ulithi on March 25 as Task Force 57 (TF57), supporting the American assault on Okinawa. The task allocated to the British force was to neutralise airfields in the Sakishima Gunto. From late March until 25 May, the British aircraft carriers Victorious, Illustrious (later replaced by Formidable), Indefatigable and Indomitable formed the 1st Aircraft Carrier Squadron commanded by Philip Vian and they were in action against airfields on the Sakishima Islands (Operations Iceberg I and Iceberg II) and Formosa (Operation Iceberg Oolong).

The British carriers were attacked by kamikaze suicide aircraft and Victorious was hit on 4 and 9 May and near-missed on 1 April, but her armoured flight deck resisted the worst of the impacts: she remained on station and was back in operation within hours on each occasion, despite damage to an aircraft lift and steam piping in her superstructure. Three men were killed and 19 of the ship's company were injured.

Japan

After May, 1945 the British Pacific Fleet withdrew to Sydney and Manus for refits and, in the cases of Victorious, Formidable and Indefatigable, for repairs to battle damage. The British fleet rendezvoused with the US 3rd Fleet on 16 July and became effectively absorbed into the American structure as a part of TF38 for the "softening up" of Japanese resistance within their home islands.

During the second half of July, Victorious aircraft took part in a series of attacks on Japanese shipping, transport and airbases on Honshu and around the Inland Sea. In one notable attack, in July, aircraft from 849 Squadron NAS, based aboard Victorious, located the Japanese escort carrier Kaiyo at Beppu Bay, Kyūshū and attacked her, inflicting serious damage that kept her out of the remainder of the war. In the main, however, British aircraft were excluded from the actions against the major Japanese naval bases; the Americans, for political reasons, preferred to reserve these targets for themselves.

War's end

The two atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August, respectively, and Japan surrendered on 15 August. By the time of the surrender, the outcome of the war was clear and Victorious left for Manus with TF37 on 12 August and then proceeded to Sydney. This apparently premature departure was in fact a delay to a withdrawal planned for 10 August, to prepare for the anticipated invasion of Japan (Operation Olympic). The BPF commander had agreed to stay for one more day's operations, but the British arrangements could not stretch to a further delay and fuel shortages were insurmountable. In addition, the steering faults that had hampered Victorious in the Indian Ocean in late 1944 are believed to have continued.

On 31 August, Victorious' ships' company took part in the Victory Parade in Sydney.

Postwar

HMS Victorious in 1959 with U.S. Navy aircraft parked on the flight deck.

Victorious left Australia in September 1945, arrived back in Britain on 27 October and undertook three trips to collect servicemen and war brides of British servicemen from Australia and the Far East. In the winter of 1946-47, the first deck trials with the naval version of the Hawker Sea Fury (Mark 10) took place aboard Victorious, leading to its approval for carrier operations in early 1947.

She was reduced to the reserve in October 1947 and subsequently joined the Training Squadron, Home Fleet in 1948. The ship was extensively reconstructed and modernised at Portsmouth Dockyard between 1950 and 1957. This took over eight years because of frequent design changes to allow for new technologies. Her hull was widened, deepened, and lengthened; her machinery was replaced with Foster-Wheeler boilers; her hangar height was increased; new armament of 3 inch (76 mm) guns was installed; and an angled flight deck was added. Her radar equipment was extensively altered to include up to date equipment.

After recommissioning into the Home Fleet on 14 January 1958 and then to the Far East Fleet, she remained in Fleet service until 1967. Victorious took part in Operation Vantage in support of Kuwait in 1961 and provided support in 1964 for the newly independent state of Malaysia against territorial expansion by its neighbour, Indonesia.

General characteristics after reconstruction

General characteristics of Victorious after reconstruction.

Displacement	30,530 tons standard, 35,500 tons full load
Length	781 ft (238 m)
Beam	103 ft 6 inch (31.5m) water line, 157 ft (47.8m) flight deck
Draught	31 ft (9.5m)
Machinery	3 shaft Parsons geared turbines, 6 Foster Wheeler Boilers
Armour	* Belt 4 inch Hangar side 4 inch Flight deck 3 inch hangar deck 2 inch
Armament	12 3 inch/50 guns (6x2) 6 - 40 mm Bofors (6x1)
Aircraft	36
Radar	Type 984, Tupe 974, Type 293Q
Crew	2400

The end

A U.S. Navy EA-1F making a touch-and-go landing on HMS Victorious in 1963

In 1968, shortly before re-commissioning after a refit, there was a relatively minor fire in the Chief Petty Officers' mess (resulting in one death and two hospitalisations), which was rapidly extinguished, and the ship was operating normally the next day. This coincided, however, with a reduction of the defence budget and, with the 1966 decision to phase out British fixed-wing naval aviation, it was decided, at very short notice, not to recommission Victorious. Her captain was told of this just one day before the scheduled recommissioning ceremony; the ceremony was held by the ship's crew anyway as a "wake" for the ship. She was paid off in 1968 and subsequently placed on the Disposal List in 1969. She was sold later that year to British Shipbreakers and towed to Faslane Naval Base on 13 July 1969, where she was broken up.

During her service, HMS Victorious had been deployed in most parts of the world and had given outstanding service in peace and war.

Squadrons and aircraft

Dates	Naval Air Squadron	Aircraft
Jan 1941-Nov 1942	809	Fulmar II
May-June 1941	825	Swordfish I
May-June 1941	800Z	Fulmar I
June 1941	820	Swordfish I
July-Aug 1941	828	Albacore I
July-Aug 1941	827	Albacore I
July 1941-Jan 1942	820	Albacore I
Aug 1941-Nov 1942	817	Albacore I
Aug 1941-Dec 1942	832	Albacore I
Sept 1941	802 dt	Martlet I
June-Aug 1942	885	Sea Hurricane Ib
July-Nov 1942	884	Spitfire V
Aug 1942	801 dt	Sea Hurricane Ib
Sept 1942-Sept 1943	896	Martlet IV
Oct 1942-Oct 1943	898	Martlet IV
Oct 1942-Sept 1943	882	Martlet IV
Jan-Sept 1943	832	Avenger 1
Feb 1944-Oct 1945	1834	Corsair II/IV
March-April 1944	827	Barracuda II
March-July 1944	829	Barracuda II
March-Aug 1944	831	Barracuda II
March 1944-Oct 1945	1836	Corsair II/IV
July-Sept 1944	1837	Corsair II
July 1944	1838	Corsair II
Sept 1944	822 dt	Barracuda II
Dec 1944-Oct 1945	849	Avenger II
Feb 1958	701	Westland Whirlwind
Aug 1958-Jan 1959	824	Westland Whirlwind
Sep 1958-Feb 1960	803	Supermarine Scimitar
Feb 1959	894	de Havilland Sea Venom
Jun-Aug 1959	894	de Havilland Sea Venom
Oct 1959	892	De Havilland Sea Vixen
Jan 1960	807	Supermarine Scimitar
Oct 1960-Nov 1961	825	Westland Whirlwind
Oct 1960-Feb 1962	892	De Havilland Sea Vixen
Oct 1960-Feb 1962	849B	Fairey Gannet
Apr-May 1961	805	de Havilland Sea Venom
Dec 1961	815	Westland Wessex
Jul-Aug 1963	809	Blackburn Buccaneer
Aug 1963-Jun 1967	893	De Havilland Sea Vixen
Aug 1963-Jun 1967	801	Blackburn Buccaneer
Aug 1963-Jun 1967	849A	Fairey Gannet
May-Jun 1966	809	Blackburn Buccaneer
Aug 1963-Jul 1965, Apr-Sep 1966, Jan-Mar 1967	814	Westland Wessex

Commanding Officers

Name	Date appointed
Captain HC Bovell CBE	5 October 1940
Captain LD Mackintosh DSO DSC	23 November 1942
Commander RCV Ross DSO	1 November 1943
Captain MM Denney CBE	8 December 1943
Captain JC Annesley DSO	15 August 1945
Captain EBK Stevens DSO DSC	30 September 1947
Captain NV Dickinson DSO DSC	25 May 1948
Captain JA Grindle CBE	16 July 1949
Captain CP Coke DSO	16 December 1957
Captain HRB Janvrin DSC	11 August 1959
Captain JMD Gray OBE	21 December 1960
Captain PM Compston	19 November 1962
Captain DL Davenport OBE	6 October 1964
Captain IL McIntosh DSO DSC MBE	12 September 1966

See also

Media related to HMS Victorious (R38) at Wikimedia Commons

Bibliography

• Blackman, ed., V.B. (1951). Jane's Fighting Ships 1950-51. London: Sampson Low, Marston, & Company. {{cite book}}: |last= has generic name (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Chesneau, Roger (1984). Aircraft Carriers of the World, 1914 to the Present; An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Gardiner, ed., Robert (1980). Conway’s All the World’s Fighting Ships 1922 - 1946. London: Conway Maritime Press. {{cite book}}: |last= has generic name (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Vian, Philip (1960). Action this Day. London: Frederick Muller. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

External links

• Maritimequest HMS Victorious photo gallery